*I am tired, so my grammar might not make sense*

Here's the story, I was heading back home from the theatre driving on a two lane street. I was on the right lane and the driver(pickup truck) was on the left lane. We are pretty much head to head at this point (we were not racing, just normal driving). Suddenly, the driver starts switching into my lane. His pickup truck hits my driver door as well as the passenger driver side door . (I will post pics tomorrow) We pulled to the side, I assesed the damage. I walked away at this instance because I wanted to deck the driver . The driver was a young kid who was in shock and scared of his father finding out. The cops arrive and we tell our stories, both stories are in sync. I was approached by a woman(a passenger's mom in the pickup ) who suggested I bring my Max to an auto body shop where her son works, instead of me going through the car insurance company. She also mention the driver's father will take care of the bill. Now, I have to decide if i should go through the insurance company or not. In the end, no one got hurt, that's all that counts, except my Max .

 

If my car was ever damaged, I would always get both parties insurance involved, especially if it was the other individuals fault.

1. The auto-body shop that the kid works may not do the best work.

2. If you need to get a rental, it will come out of your pocket verses the kid's insurance company's.

 

I was in the same situation and i took the non insurance way. But it all depends how bad the damage is.

 

records..... go with the insurance ....... unless you want to trust them....

 

Cover your ****!!! go through insurance, I just learned a month ago that you cannot trust anyone, even 80 year old women.

 

depends on the situation. My gf's old volvo got hit and we took the cash route w/o insurance. the other driver offered cash for the accident instead of insurance since he was only 18. we had the car estimated and the bill came out to $1500. He gave us $1100 cash and I spent $200 at the junk yard to fix the car. $900 in our pockets.

Insurance would have totaled the car since it was worth less then that. It was a 1989 Volvo 240. Perfect exterior condition aside from fading paint. but no dings or dents on the car til the accident and I fixed that right up with used parts.

 

Below are the pictures:












To some the damage shown above might be considered minor. A couple of things are bothering me with this fender bender. Water seepage. Painting, I hope the paint job evens out with the rest of the body. I'm leaning towards getting the insurance company involved. Thanks for your opinions.

 

Go the insurance route. Most insurance companies gaurantee the work whereas the private way wouldn't.

 

and after that, get rid of the deathtenzas

 

Why get his own insurance company involved? He's not at fault. When a drunk driver totaled my car back in 2001, I only dealt with his insurance company and never called mine. The drunks insurance company paid for me totaled car and settlement and the whole time I never called my insurance company. The only time I called my insurance company was to take the totaled car off the policy.

 

Go with insurance....if that kids shop does a bad job then you will have to live with it.

 

well his insurance company could go after the other guy's (the guy at fault) insurance company for more $$$....that's what's going on right now with me, because i was in an accident (another person's car, i was a passenger) and a drunk driver hit us...they filed the claim through their own insurance company, and now they have a lawsuit open with the other guy's company, so i'm thinking we're just going to get a settlement

 

Go with the insurance company since they guaranteed their work and will take care any problems that you may have after the work is done!!

 

hmmmmm tough call, I was in an accident august 20 it was the driver fault cause he rear ended my car on the highway but making story short cops wrote up a report and the driver and his wife ask me not to go through insurance and to give them a call, that night try to call that # and the phone wasnt in service, so good thing I got their info...went through their insurance $2100 later, still trying to get pay... so the best thing to do if it's entirely not your fault call your insurance company have them fix it and let them deal with the headache with their insurance company.... Otherwise you going to be on a llllllllooong term battle. GOOD LUCK

 

Hey man, I feel for you. I actually lived in Summit, Union County for 5 years, and I still work in Summit

I would suggest that you go with the insurance, dont let yourself be at a disadvantage. Even though Im sure the other person is trying to be nice by offering this, they definetly have more to gain from it than you do. Dont take risks where the max is involved!

 

Never submit to another person's recommendation of a shop. Take it to where you feel comfortable having the work done. Get a quote and have them pay that amount. If they refuse, insurance time.

 

like everyone else said, go through insurance, since its not your fault, oh yeah i hope your b pillar isn't damaged, good luck sorting through everything

 

Dam that looks nasty looks to be about 2500-3000 damage, hey when they do the work ask them how they are gonna paint it, if they dont say they're gonna overspray into the bumpers to match the paints up tell them to ***** off, a good shop would actually paint the hole side of the car to match it up.

Oh yeah how the fck do you still have the potenzaz man you must not drive alot, huh?

 

if they seem like good peop;e ide be like ill pick the shop and you pay

 

OH yeah fck them go through insurance, little fckrs need to learn to drive let their insurance go up, parents shouldnt of bought him that big azz truck just some little azz beater

 

This ain't OT. Clean up your posts or take a vacation. Last and final warning.

 

How can you tell from the pictures that I have potenzaz? Yea, they are potenzaz. And, I dont really do a lot of driving. I drive my max 3 dayz a week. So, Rob01ski, I'll take your paint (hole side) suggestion into consideration when searching for an auto body shop. I"m really worried about the paint. I want my max looking like new, again. Other than the paint job, b pillar, and potenzaz :-), should I look for anything that might be a problem during the repair phase?

Thanks guys for your advice, again. From the recent posts, it is pretty obvious what direction to take in this type of situation. I'm going to call his insurance company tomorrow, when i pick up the police report. I'll keep you guys posted (pictures).

 

Still you don't need to go through your own insurance. A lawyer handles a lawsuit.

 

Today, I just found out this kid does not have insurance. This is one of the reasons why NJ insurance premiuns are up high. AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!! I just got off the phone with my insurance company (Gieco) and explained everything to them. 0% liability on my part. Initially, Gieco offered me two choices: a) Contact this kid's insurance to take care of the damages (already did that) b) Gieco will take care of the damage cost. If I take the latter, I would have to pay the deductible ($1000). Now, I'm goin to call this kid's father later on tonite to give him the logistics, hopefully, he's willing to give the $1000 cash.

 

due that blows...Go with the insurance company